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Phrasal verbs - The Fast and the Furore: Bahrain rift

Another week, another sport blog. I’ve mainly blogged about sport due to my love of it, and although I’ve brought up Formula 1 a few times, I’ve never written one about it. I felt that the current furore was a good reason as any to do my first.

Current F1 issue

Bahrain was meant to be in the season opener for the F1 season on 21 February. However, this was put back due to the civil unrest in the country and rescheduled for 30 October. It was thought that it would still go ahead but now the F1 teams seemingly want the race to be called off altogether, even though the unrest has now stabilised.

Yes, continue

FIA, the governing body (what’s with all these sporting governing bodies nowadays?) and its supporters say that staging a major sporting event like F1 will heal the country. It would unite the people, bringing them together for this special occasion. Additionally, October is quite a few months away and by that time, the situation will have calmed down even more.

No, do not

There are 2 reasons why the F1 teams do not want this to go ahead. 1) It is another race in the season and the teams will have been overworked by then. 2) The human rights issue means that F1 will be making a statement that they will not put up with them.

Ethics and sport

Focusing on the second point, should sport mix with politics? We’ve already seen with FIFA, the football governing body, they are willing to ban countries from participating in tournaments, if the government gets involved. Is FIFA right (for a change)? Their point does seem to get across. Andy Murray, the no.1 UK tennis player, said that “he just wants to play tennis” when the human rights issue came up during China’s hosting of the Olympics in 2008. Does he have a point?

Make a stand

I mentioned in my last blog about FIFA that sport has exceeded itself as just sport, and although it does bring countries and people together, it really is the best way to make an impact in society. Formula 1 should not hold back and just look after itself. It needs to start from the front. They have a perfect opportunity to do so with Bahrain and Mark Webber, the Red Bull driver, chipped in with a great statement that if it is cancelled “It would have sent a very clear message about F1's position on something as fundamental as human rights and how it deals with moral issues”.

Called Off?

Now, the race looks set to be called off, with the main reason being the amount of races that the current schedule has. It’s a shame F1 has passed up the opportunity to officially announce their ethical objections. It certainly wouldn’t sort out their problems but regardless, the Bahrain rift has highlighted to the sporting world that they do have a voice, and it is a very big one.